


ad astra per aspera

by Jaspveri (Jaspberi)



Series: and so [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, F/M, Main Characters doin her best, Maybe a little fire, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Team Bonding, people like fire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-12 16:56:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17471375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaspberi/pseuds/Jaspveri
Summary: She doesn't like growing attached.She doesn't like having people close to her.Sometimes, one has to step outside of their comfort zone.





	1. She

She’s shivering, and this fact annoys her. It’s not cold and yet she shivers.  
Perched on the roof, she watches as her target sticks to the sides of the street, seemingly unaware of being watched - most likely unaware of being watched.  
His hands are shoved in his pockets, and he isn’t rushing down the street but he isn’t slow either.  
He’s been much the same since being released.  
She leans back and remains still as she watches him arrive at the Academy.  
She already knows what they’ll spend the day doing, and she supposes she can’t hang around watching a ten year old all day.  
She sighs. Vanishing in a swirl of leaves.  
  


==================================  
  
The target spends much of his time training. It reminds her of herself, before she assigned herself this target, before it was necessary, she was always training or on missions.  
It isn’t interesting to watch him train, but she watches all the same.  
She steps in to use medical jutsu when he collapses at the end of a long day. Sometimes she notices a pink haired girl hanging around near by, she pays the girl no attention.  
He never stirs when she returns him to his home.  
She passes a blond on occasion while returning her target to his home.  
The blond never notices her.  
The blond is familiar in a way she can’t quite place, whenever she sees his eyes, there’s a stirring in the back of her mind, like she should recognize him, but she doesn’t.  
She considers making him her second target.  
But, with being ANBU and frequently taking missions away from the village, she’s painfully aware of the fact she shouldn’t have targets that weren’t assigned to her as a mission from the Hokage.  
  
Currently she sits perched watching her target attend the Academy, somewhat bored, but staying there all the same.  
The blond, and the pink haired girl she’s noticed, are both in the same class as her target.  
The blonds impossible to miss, he’s loud, both visually and audibly.  
She considers the fact that he doesn’t have parents, that the people around him seem to regard him with disgust.  
She finds herself feeling something, something that seethes.  
He is a child.  
When the children are released, she goes against her every instinct, she approaches him.  
His eyes go wide at the sight of her, most academy students don’t ANBU, ‘Anbu-san,’ he greets.  
She assesses him for a moment, ‘you don’t have anyone to help you outside of the academy,’ she observes, already thinking of what she can do about this.  
The blond just looks more confused at this, ‘Is something wrong Anbu-san?’  
There are anbu assigned to watch this boy, it’s only because she’s one of them and has the same training that she notes their bristling. She supposes she wasn’t supposed to approach him.  
  
She regards him for a moment, finally places who he is - Uzumaki Naruto - yeah, she isn’t supposed to approach him.  
‘I’ll help you with your taijutsu,’ she decides, his current taijutsu is some strange brawler style, as if he attempted to learn the basics of taijutsu, but none of it ever quite sunk in.  
‘Oh, wow,’ he visibly perks up, ‘My name’s Uzuamaki Naruto! and I’m going to be Hokage some day!’  
She doesn’t particularly think much of this claim, she wouldn’t be surprised if lots of 10 year olds once claimed the same thing, she focuses more on what she can achieve with this new link.  
She tilts her head, considering, ‘How about a training partner?’ she suggests, thinking of her Target, if she can get them training together, it’ll only be a bonus for both of them.  
She starts walking, and Naruto immediately bounces along after her, excited to have someone willing to train him, curious about who could be his training partner, ‘who?’ he inquires, eyes wide.  
‘Uchiha Sasuke.’  
  
Immediately Naruto looks less excited, his face scrunches up, ‘He’s a baka,’ remarks the blond dejectedly, ‘believe it.’  
She shrugs, ‘he’s like you, no family, no one to help him, maybe he’d appreciate the chance to train with others outside of class.’  
‘I guess,’ Naruto lets out a loud drawn out sigh, and she can see she hasn’t got him convinced.  
She briefly runs through everything she’s observed about the kid, comes across on interesting fact, ‘If Sasuke agrees to train with us,’ she says, ‘We’ll get ramen afterwards.’  
Naruto goes back into excited mode, straightening up, her assessment was correct, she thinks to herself, inwardly pleased.  
  
=====================================  
  
Sasuke is reluctant to join them, but he does join them.  
And she admittedly gets a kick out of watching Sasuke easily overpower Naruto in taijutsu.  
She observes that Naruto’s only real advantage is how entirely unpredictable he is, which only makes her somewhat reluctant to teach him how to do things properly. Being unpredictable is an asset, but one that could be improved on by having a strong foundation.  
She glances up at the sky, assessing where the sun is to check the time, she has a mission later that day, but had wanted to see her targets before leaving the village.  
The fact she wanted to see them is somewhat frustrating in itself, is she growing attached? She sure hopes not.  
‘What’s wrong, Anbu-san?’ asks Naruto, turning towards her, he seems to be the better at reading people out of he and Sasuke.  
She’s been helping them train for three weeks, with a focus on taijutsu. She likes to think they’ve improved a little.  
It’s somewhat pleasing, training these young things and knowing they’re going to be Strong.  
  
Sasuke remains a cloud of gloom despite this consistent exposure to Naruto’s constant sunshine attitude, and Naruto seems to use all his free time for pulling pranks.  
But it does seem they’re growing a little, in small ways, in the way only a child can.  
‘I have to leave for a mission soon, I’ll be out of Konoha for a week,’ she tells them both, watching Naruto’s expression drop into a pout.  
She’s unsure why the pair seem to trust her so much now, is it because she has put time into them? Or merely because of her position as anbu?  
Naruto’s thoughts are displayed almost clearly on his face as he brightens up, ‘can I go with you?’  
She tilts her head, this is a level of trust she doubts she’s ever received before and she doesn’t quite know how to take it, ‘This isn’t the kind of mission to bring an Academy student on,’ is what she settles on.  
  
‘A future mission then!’ exclaims Naruto, Sasuke glances over at him, actually looking a little intrigued.  
‘I’ll think about it,’ she decides, curious about the fact the pair are so eager to join her on a mission.  
And she could possibly get an easy mission to bring them along on, she’ll have to get permission. But it’s not as if either of them have parents to protest.  
Naruto dances around happily for a moment then comes to a sudden stop as he freezes, apparently having realized something, ‘Wait, who will buy me ramen while you’re away?’ he pouts.  
Very quickly she’s realized these kids had been put into homes alone, without any real skills in terms of living alone, Naruto relied on instant ramen and had next to no clue about budgeting, and while Sasuke was a little better, he still wasn’t the best at making his money last. So she’d stepped in, providing them with meals when she could.  
‘I cooked some meals and put them in your freezer,’ she pauses, ‘I assume you k now how to heat up a frozen meal,’ at least she hopes he does, and if he doesn’t, she has no doubt he’ll ask Sasuke as soon as she’s gone.  
  
‘Did you cook ramen?’ is Naruto’s only question, and the only question she’d expected.  
‘Yes,’ she glances to Sasuke, ‘I left some meals in your freezer also.’  
Sasuke looks confused for a moment, as if wanting to question how she entered his house, instead of asking however, he merely falls silent and nods.  
  
==================================  
  
She’s surprised when she returns to the village and finds Sasuke and Naruto hanging out of their own choice.  
Her mission outside of the village had ended up going two weeks longer than expected.  
She vaguely wonders if they were worried at all.  
Both boys are perched on a log in the training grounds she’d been taking them to.  
They’re perched with their legs folded, facing each other as they share one of the meals she’d left in their freezers.  
Naruto makes a wordless sound of excitement when he sees her, ‘Anbu-san!’ he cheers, ‘you were gone for so long and we couldn’t even ask the Hokage about you because we didn’t know your name, believe it!’  
  
No doubt the Hokage knows exactly what she’s been doing, and either of the students could have easily just inquired about ‘that one anbu that sometimes trains them.’ She decides not to point this out to them.  
‘Mission went a little long,’ she eyes the meal between them, ‘you two running out of frozen meals?’ she shoves her hands into her pockets.  
Sasuke accepts the container back from Naruto and has the last bite of food, they’ve apparently developed a system for sharing meals, ‘Naruto ran out on the second day you were gone and whined so much that I decided to share.’  
She carefully sorts through her thoughts for a moment, not wanting to rush her next words, ‘you two can have dinner at my place tonight,’ she decides, tone careful, ‘So you can tell me what you did while I was away.’  
Naruto brightens up, ‘a fresh meal???’  
  
Across from him, even Sasuke seems to brighten up slightly.  
She nods and gestures for them to follow her, she’s looking forward to seeing her house again.  
Her preference has always been for missions outside of the village, but she does miss home sometimes.  
The house is located somewhat close to the Uchiha compound, with the compound being within sight when looking out the windows of one side of her house.  
‘You have such a nice house, believe it!’ cheers Naruto, staring with wide eyes, taking note of the gardens around it. She didn’t personally care for them, rather she hired a civilian gardener. Going on missions so frequently sure helped her pay for a lot.  
She shrugs, the inside of the house itself is mostly empty, she’d been living there for some time but hadn’t quite settled in, wasn’t sure she ever would even.  
‘You have all these nice plants outside, but you need plants inside,’ Naruto informs her, ‘they make every house better, Sasuke and I went plant shopping last week, cause he didn’t have any plants but now he has two.’  
‘I’ll go plant shopping sometime then,’ she allows, thinking she could possibly get a couple of low maintenance plants for inside - she’s not inclined to allow any civilian to enter the house itself.  
  
‘You gotta take me with you, I’m the best at choosing plants,’ Naruto assures her.  
‘And I believe it, too,’ she replies without much thought, used to him tacking ‘believe it!’ onto every sentence anyway.  
She digs through her cupboards and isn’t terribly surprised to find she barely has anything in them, as she had needed to go shopping before she’d left for her mission.  
She sighs, straightens up, ‘Looks like we’re going grocery shopping,’ she declares.  
‘You want us to go with you?’ Naruto looks confused, he and Sasuke still trail after her anyway.  
She shrugs, ‘I assume you’ll both be joining me for future meals, this is a good way for me to learn what you both like.’  
Naruto looks thoughtful for a moment before looking concerned, ‘are you wanting us to help pay for them?’  
She shrugs this idea off, ‘No, I’m good.’  
  
‘Sasuke likes tomatoes,’ Naruto now informs her, no doubt doing his best to be helpful.  
‘And Naruto likes ramen, all ramen,’ supplies Sasuke, voice a quiet murmur.  
This is information she’s already gathered herself, but she still nods to show she’s heard them. And she supposes she appreciates their efforts to be helpful.  
Naruto is quick to locate the instant ramen in the store, he ignores the dirty looks the other shoppers send him, instead gesturing to the instant ramen with a flourish, ‘Ramen!’ he exclaims.  
‘I think we can do better than that,’ she replies, heading over to the vegetables and beginning to collect things on her way there.  
Sasuke ignores their exchange, heading straight for the tomatoes.  
‘How are things with that girl you like?’ she asks absently, she passes items off to Naruto who sits them in the basket he’s carrying. She doesn’t really care about Naruto’s potential relationship, she’s more so curious about the pink haired girl.  
From what she knows, the pink haired girl comes from a mostly civilian family.  
The blond pulls a sour expression, ‘Sakura-chan still only likes Sasuke-baka, she always acts like . . .’ Naruto trails off, face scrunching up as he’s unable to quite grasp the word he wants.  
  
She takes note of this, and glances towards Naruto, ‘how are you at reading?’ abysmal no doubt, but it generally pays to ask rather than assume.  
Naruto squints at her, ‘why?’  
‘I started reading a series of books, I thought you might like them,’ a lie, she seldom reads, doesn’t have time for it, and the truth is, she doubts Naruto ever got much help in learning to read, reading wasn’t a focus at the Academy, most at the Academy relied on the idea that the parents would teach reading and writing to their children before they ever started at the Academy.  
‘Oh,’ Naruto perks up ‘I’m a slow reader, but I can still read anything, believe it!’ he exclaims.  
‘I haven’t finished the first book, maybe we could read together to get through them faster,’ she hasn’t started on any book, but this is an easy way to teach Naruto reading without him realizing her intentions.  
Naruto falters but forces a smile and nods enthusiastically.  
Sasuke rejoins them, glancing at the basket Naruto’s carrying but choosing not to comment. She allows him to lead her to the tomatoes.  
  
  
  
=This is more a 'hey, this fic exists,' chapter.  
Future updates wont happen very often, much thanks.


	2. Sakura

The pink haired girl has a mostly civilian family while she’s in a class with mostly clan kids. Or at least kids with ninja families.  
It makes her a bit of an oddity, asides from Naruto and Sasuke, who were left without families.  
  
She doesn’t think it would be wise to have Sakura train with the boys at this stage, she’s read Sakura’s file despite the fact she’s really not supposed to. Sakura’s far more suited to chakra control training at this stage, and more learning about genjutsu.  
Possibly some strength and endurance training.  
Her minds actually racing with ideas of how she could train Sakura, she has far more ideas for the girl than she does Sasuke or Naruto.  
  
At least since the boys are academy students, they’ll be getting Jounin once they become Genin, which means more individual focus - if they get a competent jounin that is.  
She’s cautious in her approach to Sakura, she doubts she’ll get quite so lucky on earning the pinkettes’ trust.  
So she stays at a distance at first, simply offering tips and advice to the girl, before slowly getting closer.  
  
Until finally they’re running laps together, Sakura is already tired, but this isn’t a surprise.  
‘You’ll get better at this with time,’ she assures the girl, who doesn’t look at all relieved by this news.  
'I can help you catch up with your classmates,’ she tells Sakura, still running, and not at all out of breath like Sakura is.  
‘I’m not behind,’ pants Sakura, ‘I’m the smartest kunoichi in my class.’  
She hums, quirking an eyebrow that Sakura doesn’t see because of the mask, ‘Smartest maybe, but behind in physical aspects, your taijutsu and ninjutsu are lacking, and you can’t run for as long or as far as them, book smarts are important but you need to balance it out, improve your physical ability too.’  
They come to a halt, Sakura slouches, putting her hands on her knees, ‘but you’re anbu,’ she gasps, trying to catch her breath, ‘you probably have better things to do.’  
‘I’m not on missions constantly,’ she shrugs, unsure why she is actually suddenly interested in teaching, a part of her wonders at possibly having her own team of genin someday, ‘I can afford you some time, but you’ll need to keep up with the things I teach you while I’m not around.’  
Sakura hesitates, ‘I’d . . . like that,’ she finally decides.  
  
============================  
  


She drops down from the roof, lands on his back and quickly slits his throat.  
It’s not an effective or tidy way of killing.  
But sometimes she likes to include a little interest in her missions, and she supposes a direct approach adds a little bit more risk.  
  
She wipes her kunai clean on her targets shirt, whistles idly. Her anbu mask is somewhat familiar in some circles now due to the missions she’s carried out, it’s not ideal being recognizable, but none of them know who is behind the mask and it hasn’t hindered her ability to carry out missions, so the Hokage hasn’t said anything.  
She’s actually lucky her target was such an isolated type, seldom around other people.  
This mission had even ended quicker than expected, and now all that’s left is the journey back to the village. A two days journey.

  
Of course. She could always speed that trip up, go faster by using her chakra to boost her from branch to branch, and not stop for rests. Make it there within a day.  
It’s irresponsible of her to even consider that, and she’s frustrated at herself for considering it.  
But she’s found herself growing attached to Sasuke and Naruto, and even Sakura.  
The girl shows promise.  
Apparently Naruto had approached Sakura about training with them, and she’d turned him down immediately, later on Sakura inquired, asking if She was the anbu member training Naruto and Sasuke, She’d seen no reason to lie.  
Sakura had seemed thoughtful, had said she’d like to start training with Naruto and Sasuke when she’s a little more caught up.  
By time She arrives in the village she’s exhausted. The chunin at the gate are startled to see her, they typically didn’t actually see anbu as they returned from missions outside of the village.  
  
One of them rushed out to meet her as she passed by, chakra doing something interesting, she’s too tired to figure out the message he’s sending.  
‘Do you need a medic?’ he asks, there’s a brief spark of recognition in his eyes as he looks at her mask.  
Tiredly, she shakes her head, ‘just need to go to bed,’ she murmurs, voice slightly hoarse. Her chakra reserves feel almost drained from forcing her way home so quickly.  
The chunin nods, somewhat hesitantly, he keeps an eye on her as she continues into the village.  
Rather quickly, Sasuke and Naruto find her.  
  
It constantly surprises her how quickly Naruto and Sasuke had settled into hanging around each other, it seems like Sasuke even tolerated Naruto somewhat now. They argued plenty, but hung around each other willingly enough.  
‘Anbu-san!’ yells the blond cheerfully, he doesn’t notice how she practically droops from exhaustion as she walks, ‘you’re early, are you going to train us now?’  
She’s pretty sure she will drop onto the ground if she even attempted to train them at this moment, she briefly wonders where Sakura is.  
Sasuke rolls his eyes and responds for her, ‘She’s exhausted, she probably just wants to go to bed.’  
‘Oh,’ Naruto pouts, switching to a thoughtful look before a grin spreads across his face, ‘then we’ll just have to stay at her place tonight, believe it!’ he yells enthusiastically, grabbing her arm and dragging her towards her house, ‘I looked after your indoor plants while you were a way.’  
. . .She doesn’t have any plants indoors? she had never gotten around to going shopping with Naruto, behind her mask she frowns.  
Sasuke seems to be following them, but somewhat reluctantly.  
  
In a store they pass by, Sakura is browsing, she sends them a vague look of interest as they pass by.  
‘I bought you some plants,’ Naruto admits cheerily once they arrive inside her house, she can’t help but stare.  
Her house is almost a jungle with all the plants.  
  
========================  
  
Sakura starts stretching as soon as she’s done running laps, she glances over at her mentor, ‘is there something else I can call you?’ she inquires, ‘it’s kind of weird calling you anbu-san.’  
She sighs, thinks briefly for a moment and ignores how nervous Sakura looks, ‘Haitaka,’ she finally says, ‘you can call me Haitaka.’  
  
‘Haitaka-san,’ Sakura sounds out, looking curious, ‘that isn’t your actual name,’ she notes.  
Haitaka shrugs, doesn’t answer.  
‘I want to join your training sessions with Sasuke-kun and Naruto,’ Sakura tells her as she finishes stretching, ‘I get Sasuke-kun is still ahead of me,’ she pauses, hesitates, her cheeks go red, ‘but maybe he’d appreciate that I’m really trying?’  
  
Ha, Haitaka can’t help but feel a little amused. Sakura is trying, and she is doing well. But of course she’d still angle for Sasuke’s eye.  
‘Naruto will be thrilled,’ replies Haitaka, and ignores how Sakura’s shoulders slump.  
‘I meet Sasuke and Naruto here when the sun rises tomorrow morning,’ Haitaka tells Sakura next, ‘it’s up to you whether or not you join us.’  
Sakura straightens up, offers Haitaka a smile, ‘thank you,’ she says, voice sincere, ‘My parents do support me being a kunoichi,’ she pauses, ‘but I don’t have family to help me out like all the clan kids, my sensei just expects me to be behind, I really appreciate you giving me a chance.’  
Mmm, thinks Haitaka to herself, she would’t actually mind being a sensei one day if it’s remotely like this. But then, typically sensei don’t pick their students.  
  
======================  
  
‘Do you have any interest in becoming a Jounin teacher?’  
Haitaka stares. She hates feeling like her thoughts have been somewhat read, she knows her mind can’t be read without her being aware of it - at least she’s pretty sure of that, she’s no expert on the Yamanka clan and their jutsu - but she still feels slightly on edge.  
Of all the possible things for the Hokage to see her about, she hadn’t expected this.  
‘Me?’ she frowns, ‘a sensei?’  
  
‘I have heard from Naruto that you’ve been training him and Naruto,’ replies Hiruzen, tone level and calm.  
‘I’m better suited for anbu than for being a sensei,’ she replies immediately, but sighs and stands, moving to look out the window, ‘you know why I’m training Sasuke,’ she pauses, ‘as for Naruto, he has no one else, the sensei at the academy don’t care,’ she’s surprised at the anger in her own voice. She’s feeling a lot more for these kids than she’s felt about anything in a long time.  
‘I could allow them to graduate early,’ explains Hiruzen patiently, ‘have you as their sensei, you could pick the third member of their team.’ A surprising offer, a Hokage is usually all about holding onto assets, and Haitaka is well aware she’s best used in anbu.  
‘No,’ she almost snarls the word, ‘they need that time in the Academy,’ her shoulders bunch up and she doesn’t dare look away from the window, ‘they’re kids,’ she tells Hiruzen somewhat forcefully, ‘even the current graduation age is too early, you saw what happened to Him.’  
  
Hiruzen raises an eyebrow, he’s wise enough to know when not to push an issue, ‘then when they graduate,’ he offers, ‘you seem interested in the Haruno.’  
Haitaka frowns, now looking away from the window, ‘I can help them more without being their sensei,’ she decides, aware this is entirely true, frustrated with the knowledge she desperately does want to be there for them, she does care, ‘but you should put them and the Haruno on a team together.’  
  
Hiruzen seems curious, he apparently decides this isn’t worth questioning, ‘I’m giving you the next two weeks off, paid leave,’ he decides, voice firm.  
Haitaka frowns, recalling her previous thoughts about assets, giving an asset time off is not a way of making use of them, ‘what for?’  
‘No reason.’ There is a reason, and Haitaka can guess what it is.  
‘Hai,’ she sighs, bowing then disappearing in a puff of smoke.  
She finds Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura hanging around her backyard. She isn’t terribly surprised to see Naruto and Sasuke there, but she certainly hadn’t expected to see Sakura with them.  
The boys seem settled and at home in her backyard, while Sakura seems mildly uncomfortable.  
  
Sakura perks up when Haitaka arrives, looking relieved that Haitaka has arrived.  
‘Is there something else we can call you?’ complains Naruto, he’s lying flat on the grass, ‘it’s weird calling you Anbu-san.’  
She doesn’t doesn’t hesitate, ‘Haitaka,’ no sense giving them a different name, and Sakura is right there.  
‘Hataka-sensei!’ yells Naruto happily.  
Haitaka sighs at his enthusiasm.  
‘Is that your actual name?’ asks Sasuke, voice barely above a murmur.  
  
‘No,’ replies Haitaka immediately.  
Sasuke frowns.  
‘You all staying for dinner?’ inquires Haitaka, ‘I have no missions for the next two weeks,’ she informs them, now guessing what she’s been given the time off, ‘so you’re all free to stay here whenever.’  
Naruto’s eyes get large, ‘for the night?’  
The black haired female nods, shoves her hands into her pockets and leans against the wall of her house, ‘yes, there’s plenty of room.’  
And if anything, she’s become accustomed to the noise of genin, she wouldn’t mind having them stay the night on occasion.  
‘I want to be the first to stay the night at Haitaka-sensei’s house!’ yells Naruto, charging out of the yard to go pack a bag.  
  



End file.
